Why do we digitize? The case for slow digitization

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Readers and Reading in the First World War

This essay consists of three individually authored and interlinked sections. In ‘A Digital Humanities Approach’, Francesca Benatti looks at datasets and databases (including the UK Reading Experience Database) and shows how a systematic, macro-analytical use of digital humanities tools and resources might yield answers to some key questions about reading in the First World War. In ‘Reading behind the Wire in the First World War’ Edmund G. C. King scrutinizes the reading practices and preferences of Allied prisoners of war in Mainz, showing that reading circumscribed by the contingencies of a prison camp created an unique literary community, whose legacy can be traced through their literary output after the war. In ‘Book-hunger in Salonika’, Shafquat Towheed examines the record of a single reader in a specific and fairly static frontline, and argues that in the case of the Salonika campaign, reading communities emerged in close proximity to existing centres of print culture. The focus of this essay moves from the general to the particular, from the scoping of large datasets, to the analyses of identified readers within a specific geographical and temporal space. The authors engage with the wider issues and problems of recovering, interpreting, visualizing, narrating, and representing readers in the First World War

Measuring the impact of digital resources: the balanced value impact model

The Balanced Value Impact Model (BVI Model) draws evidence from a wide range of sources to provide a compelling account of the means of measuring the impact of digital resources and using evidence to advocate how change benefits people. The aim is to provide key information and a strong model for the following primary communities of use: the cultural, heritage, academic or creative industries.For the purposes of this report, the definition of Impact is:The measurable outcomes arising from the existence of a digital resource that demonstrate a change in the life or life opportunities of the community for which the resource is intended.The outcome of this cross disciplinary research is a new and targeted model of Impact Assessment for the primary communities of use identified above. The Balanced Value Impact Model brings together aspects from disparate Impact Assessment communities into a cohesive and logical process for Impact Assessment.The Balanced Value Impact Model is intended to aid the thinking and decision making of those wishing to engage in Impact Assessment. It also acts as a guide through the process of Impact Assessment to enable the core values most appropriate to the assessment to be brought to the fore and given a balanced consideration when evaluating outcomes. It presumes that the assessment will be measuring change within an ecosystem for a digital resource

Burckhardtsource.org: The Unpublished Correspondence to Jacob Burckhardt

Burckhardsource.org is the semantic Digital Library designed and developed by EUROCORR ERC Advanced Grant Project, which hosts the on-going critical edition work on the correspondence of over 300 European intellectuals with the Swiss cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt over a period of more than half a century. Aim of this article is to outline an introduction to EUROCORR1 by describing content and tools of Burckhardtsource.org platform. 1 The ERC-project, Advanced Grant EUROCORR, Grant Agreement n. 249483, is coordinated by Maurizio Ghelardi (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa). Ghelardi is member of the Board of Jacob Burckhardt Werke (Kritische Gesamtausgabe) since 1991 and associate editor of the critical edition of Jacob Burckhardt’s Work (Nachlass, herausgegeben zusammen mit S. Müller im Rahmen der neuen Gesamtausgabe von Werken und Nachlass, herausgegeben von der Jacob Burckhardt-Stiftung, Schwabe und C. H. Beck, Band 13, 16, 17). See also the Team page on http://www.burckhardtsource.org. For a detailed description of the project, the corpus of letters and its characteristics, the methodology and the scientific goals see S. Müller, F. Di Donato, “Burckhardtsource.org. A semantic digital edition of the correspondence to Jacob Burckhardt”, EVA-Berlin Conference Proceedings, 2013.

Digital editions of text:Surveying user requirements in the Digital Humanities

This article presents the findings of a web survey designed to better understand the expectations and use of digital editions of texts. The survey, modelled upon a detailed analysis of 242 projects, recorded 218 complete responses, shedding light on user requirements of digital editions. Specifically, the survey indicates that issues of data reuse, licensing, image availability, and comprehensive documentation are the most requested features of digital editions, although ones which seldom are provided. This analysis feeds into previous studies on good practice in building Digital Humanities resources and puts forward practical recommendations for both creators and funders of digital editions in an effort to promote a stronger consideration of user needs. This survey will be of interest to those who produce digital editions of texts, including developers and engineers, and will also be of interest to those who commission and fund these projects, such as universities, libraries, and archives, whose documentary collections are often showcased in digital editions

Archives, Access and Artificial Intelligence: Working with Born-Digital and Digitized Archival Collections

Digital archives are transforming the Humanities and the Sciences. Digitized collections of newspapers and books have pushed scholars to develop new, data-rich methods. Born-digital archives are now better preserved and managed thanks to the development of open-access and commercial software. Digital Humanities have moved from the fringe to the center of academia. Yet, the path from the appraisal of records to their analysis is far from smooth. This book explores crossovers between various disciplines to improve the discoverability, accessibility, and use of born-digital archives and other cultural assets

Archives, Access and Artificial Intelligence

Digital archives are transforming the Humanities and the Sciences. Digitized collections of newspapers and books have pushed scholars to develop new, data-rich methods. Born-digital archives are now better preserved and managed thanks to the development of open-access and commercial software. Digital Humanities have moved from the fringe to the center of academia. Yet, the path from the appraisal of records to their analysis is far from smooth. This book explores crossovers between various disciplines to improve the discoverability, accessibility, and use of born-digital archives and other cultural assets